The Wars of the Bruces: Scotland, England and Ireland 1306 - 1328 by Colm McNamee

Author:Colm McNamee
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780857904959
Publisher: Birlinn
Published: 2012-08-24T23:00:00+00:00

In March 1317 Arundel took advantage of Robert I’s absence in Ireland to lead an incursion into Scotland.176 It can hardly have been intended as an invasion aimed at permanent recovery of Scottish territory. Advancing into Jedwood Forest, his men hewed down trees to deny cover to the Scots. But the advance guard led by Thomas de Richmond was ambushed at Lintilee by James Douglas. Richmond was killed; and the expedition halted. Douglas’s capture of a nearby peel from a band of schavaldores deterred Arundel from further advance and he retreated into England. Arundel also tested the Scots by sea, sending ships to raid the east coast of Scotland.177 Robert returned to Scotland in May to meet the planned invasion, but in the desperate famine conditions that prevailed, a campaign was out of the question, and the truce was successively extended. In view of the ‘near miracle’ achieved by Pessagno in keeping these garrisons in place, Arundel ought to have achieved much more.

The period from September 1317 to 1319 was another disastrous phase for the English, with enmity between Lancaster and Edward II threatening to plunge the country into civil war. No chevetaigne was appointed; and the Middleton rebellion caused the temporary loss of many minor fortifications.178 By May 1318 Robert I had captured Berwick, taken Wark and Harbottle castles, and raided Yorkshire. In August, however, Lancaster and the king settled their differences in a compromise known as the Treaty of Leake. But by this time it was already too late for action on the marches, and an expedition had to wait until the following season.179

Edward II’s presence at Berwick in the autumn of 1319 lent some temporary semblance of security to the eastern marches. On his retreat from Berwick and in reaction to the ravages by the Scots after Myton, on 28th September Edward appointed John Cromwell and Robert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, as wardens of the march with full powers. Each contributed 30 men-at-arms of his own retinue and the king provided a further 140, making 200 men-at-arms in all. They were to keep the march, secure Newcastle, and maintain garrisons. Other contingents were added, and 249 men-at-arms were listed as staying on the march from 28th September until 26th June 1320. Aside from this, special provision was made for additional cavalry to be stationed in the Northumberland garrisons after the fashion of the Arundel plan, though on a smaller scale. Bamburgh was to have an extra 30 men-at-arms; Alnwick 20 men-at-arms and 20 hobelars; Warkworth four men-at-arms and eight hobelars; and at Newcastle, 10 men-at-arms and 46 crossbowmen. Noticeably absent from the list of castles are Wark, which had fallen to the Scots in May 1318, and Norham, currently under siege.180 Cromwell and Angus’s force was to complement that which Andrew Harclay had built up in the west since he had been appointed keeper there in April. But the chevetaignes were not immediately commissioned. Arrangements were reviewed at a council meeting on 13th October; this decided

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